Skate



March 21, 1939; H. DORNSEIF SKATE Filed March 18; 1937 Patented Mar. 21, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFiCE SKATE Hugo Dornseif, Radevormwald, Germany Application March 18, 1937, Serial No. 131,570 In Germany January 6, 1937 12 Claims. (01. 28011.18)

This application was filed in Germany January it can be replaced by a new sharply ground strip.

6, 1937. This arrangement has, however, not hitherto been This invention relates to improvements in and used owing to the unsuitable form of connection relating to skates. proposed which necessitated a gripping of the .5 With skates, particularly those intended for use ends of the cover strip around the ends of the for figure skating, ice hockey and similar purblade strip support or holder and thus the form poses, it is necessary that the runner or blade shall ing of the cover strip with long flexible ends have, at its lower rim, sharp edges offering as which is impossible with a particularly hard steel. great as possible resistance to wear and as great This arrangement is therefore unsuitable for as possible hardness, whilst the remaining part of present-day requirements. Besides the fault of 10 the runner or blade should have, with only small insufficient hardness, a further reason for the weight, as high as possible security against fracunsuitability of this arrangement lies in. that the ture, that is to say, a less hardness but a greater ends of the blade have a shape unsuitable for use toughness. for sport. Moreover, the fastening was not re- This condition is obtainable with blades made liable because a considerable part of the pull 15 of uniform material, only with difficulty and even exerted by the screw was lost by the strong curvathen only to a certain extent because the above ture and thereby the blade could yield laterally mentioned extreme values cannot be attained under lateral pressure, thereby considerably afwith one and the same kind of steel. A runner fecting the safety of the skater.

has, however, also already been made from a Now, the principal object of this invention is to number of strips of different kinds of steel, the overcome the above and other disadvantages and steel strips being secure-1y connected together by to provide an improved skate which is of simple Welding, soldering or in any other suitable manyet robust construction and suitable for use for ner. In this way, owing to the accurate choice figure skating or ice hockey.

3.3 of the kinds of steel employed and the connect- According to this invention, I provide a skate ing means thereof, an essential improvement has having an exchangeable blade strip, characterised been obtained. Especially good skaters, and in in that the said blade is arranged so as to extend particular, master skaters, have, however, still not only on the under side of the blade holder and is been satisfied with this result because even the connected to the holder by any suitable means.

considerably reduced wear necessitates from time The blade strip is preferably hooked to the to time a grinding or sharpening of the blade or blade holder at one end thereof and at the other running edges. Such subsequent sharpening is, end an upwardly extending tension screw conhowever, undesirable for various reasons, such as nects the blade to the holder. the fact that, if the work is to be effectively car- For positively securing the blade against lateral ried out, it is necessary to send the skate tothe yielding, the skate is suitably formed with a manufacturers and a relatively lengthy period groove and the exchangeable blade with a lateral therefore is bound to elapse before the article is tongue or key engageable in the groove. The returned; moreover, owing to this an unavoidable groove is made deeper than the height of the alteration of the shape and position of the runtongue in order that the exchangeable blade shall ning edges invariably results from the grinding bear only laterally on the said tongue. In this or sharpening and many skaters are very sensitive way, simply by means of a file, the curving of the on this point. blade can be conformed to the individuality of With blades having inwardly bevelled side surthe skater, and, above all things, to his body faces, the blade breadth is diminished on the reweight, by suitable forming of the bearing surpeated sharpening or grinding and the edge will faces laterally of the groove on the skate. 5 be wavy if the grinding is not of hair breadth uni- In this way, not only is the fitting of the blade formity. These two faults impede the skater very and a reliable exchangeable fastening thereof ef considerably. Moreover, difliculties arise if the fected in a particularly simple manner, but, at skate is loosened from the skating boot for the the same time, the blade strip itself may be purpose of the sharpening and must subsequently formed simply as a rail of uniform cross section 50 be re-set in a correct position. and with inconsiderable curvature. Consequent- It has also already been proposed to arrange on ly the novel blade can also be produced at a relathe under rim of the skate in an easily exchangetively low price and from particularly high value able manner a covering strip forming the actual hard material without the remainder of the skate blade so that on the blunting of the running edge being thereby made essentially expensive. Furthermore, a skater, without exchanging the skate, can test-out blades of different breadths and form of grinding, and, after finding and becoming accustomed to that most suited to him according to his particular requirements, he can readily fit it without having to make any other adjustments or loosen the skate from the boot as was always hitherto the case.

The front fastening position can advantageously be covered by a removable cap which, at the same time, forms.- a securing means for the connecting position. Moreover, this cap can if desired be formed in the usual manner with teeth whereby it is made suitable for various purposes. It is preferably fastened to the blade holder of the skate by an eccentric bolt with adjusting and fixing screws, the eccentric or its fastening screw being advantageously displaceably carried in a curved slot of the skate. In this way, an adjustment of the cap and a good fit at the edge both as regards running conditions and also security against loosening is made possible.

In this way, the possibility is produced of rapidly and securely arranging independently of the skate any desired tooth form and breadth in any desired position relatively to the blade. The cap can thereby be provided along the inner arc periphery thereof with teeth in which engages a tooth arranged on the skate so that the cap, before the tightening of the eccentric, can be displaced around one or more teeth. In this way, on the tightening of the screws the cap is secured against displacement in the chosen position. The arrangement can obviously also be reversed.

The securing of the eccentric against undesirable loosening is effected by a tooth formation of the head which engages a corresponding tooth of the bearing surface and is so held therein by the tension screw that the eccentric is only rotatable after the loosening of the said screw. This screw projects so far into the head slot of the eccentric that the latter is free only after loosening of the screw so that only the correct sequence of operation of eccentric and screw is possible.

Instead of providing a special cap, the front fastening of the blade can also be arranged directly behind the teeth which are then formed integral with the blade holder.

With hockey or racing skates which are made without teeth, the cap advantageously conforms to the point of the skate and is inset into the blade holder so that the cap forms the toe of the skate and, in spite of the exchangeability of the blade, there are no parts projecting outwards.

In order that the invention may be fully understoOd, I will now describe two embodiments thereof by way of example, by reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side view of a skate with exchangeable blade secured thereon, in accordance with the invention,

Fig. 2 is a side view to a larger scale of the front of the skate only showing the front fasteningposition of the blade, the cap covering the fastening position being shown in section,

Fig. 3 is a side view of the rear of the skate only showing the rear fastening position of the blade with the holder partly in section,

Fig. 4 is a section through the front fastening position on the line AA of Fig, 1,

Fig. 5 is a section through the holder and the blade on the line BB of Fig. 1,

Fig. 6 is a section through the rear fastening position of the blade on the line C-C of Fig. 1, and

Fig. '7 is a transverse section of a skate showing a modified form of blade for the purpose of assisting the correct adjustment of the skate on the boot.

Referring to the drawing, the skate consists of a blade holder at similar to the normal holder which extends forwardly to a curved portion b. The front curved portion b and a sup-port d carry the sole plate 0 which serves for securing to a skating boot. At the rear end of the holder is arranged the heel plate f which is connected to the holder at likewise by a support g.

The skate is provided with an exchangeable blade strip h which is secured to the under side of the holder at. This blade strip extends only over that part of the holder actually utilized for the skating. At the front end it is provided with a h'ooked head 2' which can be suspended in a barbed hook 2" formed in the holder (1. Adjacent the rear end of the blade h is pivotally carried a retaining screw 70, the lower forked end 10 thereof engaging the blade strip straddlelike and being positively connected therewith. This retaining screw is is, for purposes of fastening, passed upwardly through an inclined hole m from the under side to the upper side of the holder a, and a tensioning nut n is then placed on the end of the screw which projects upwardly from the holder a, and on the tightening of this nut n the whole blade strip h is securely drawn tightly against the under side of the holder 0:.

In order to secure the blade strip h against horizontal transverse movements, it is made of inverted T-like cross section, 1. e., it is provided on its upper side with a longitudinal tongue or key k which engages in a corresponding groove or channel formed in the holder 0.. On this key is provided a small raised portion for engaging the link-eye-like end of the fastening screw is.

The forward fastening position of the blade strip is covered by an easily releasable cap q. This cap consists of a U-shaped sheet metal piece which can be fastened to the skate by a double screw 'r, r. One screw 7', which is hollow, sits tightly in a slot .9 in the holder a and engages with an eccentric end in the cap q so that the cap is displaced by rotation of the screw r and can be fixed by tightening the screw T which engages the hollow screw r. Moreover, the cap q can be adjusted in a direction longitudinally of the holder at by displacement in the slot s. The head of the screw r is provided on its under side with a tooth u and the cap is provided at the bearing position of the head of the screw with a corresponding countertooth whereby a good securing against undesirable displacement of the eccentric and the cap q is effected.

The cap q is moreover provided with teeth 2) and thus forms a toothed member. It thus serves in this manner a number of different purposes. Owing to the adjustability of the cap, the tooth part can be set more forward or backward on the blade holder as desired. An inner set of teeth is also at the same time formed on the forming of the outer teeth, in which inner teeth engages a tooth ac provided on the holder a in order to prevent any undesirable displacement of the cap and to the strains set up on running or during the adjustments.

In order to assist the correct positioning of the skate on the boot, a blade can suitably be used, which as will be seen from Fig. 7, possesses a knife or wedge-like cross section. In this way;

the correct or most favourable sliding line can be fixed easily and with safety. If, in this way, the skate is first once set correctly on the boot, it need not as a rule be again loosened, but it is sufficient if the blade strip used for the positioning is exchanged for one having the finally desired profile which can be again easily replaced at any time on becoming blunt. The cap is shaped to conform to the shape of the curved portion 12 or toe of the skate at the securing position of the blade strip. In this way, the cap can always be brought to bear with its fastening end on the blade edge and a reliable securing of the fastening is ensured.

Naturally, the invention is not limited to the illustrated example, other embodiments being also within the scope thereof. In particular, a plurality of retaining screws could be distributed over the length of the blade in order further to increase the security of the fastening. If necessary, the fastening could also be effected only by tension screws so that a hooking can be completely omitted. With hockey skates the cap for covering the forward fastening position is preferably inset in the skate and conforms accurately to the outline of the holder at the fastening position so that any projecting parts are avoided. With skates having a fixedly arranged tooth member, the cap can also be completely omitted, the fastening being arranged directly behind the tooth piece.

I claim:

1. In a skate, the subcombination of: a blade holder having a slot adjacent the rear end thereof; a blade strip associated with said holder and extending only along the under side of said blade holder; a hook formed integrally with said blade strip at one end thereof, said hook being engageable with a recess formed adjacent the forward end of the underside of said holder; and an upwardly extending bolt pivoted to said blade strip, adjacent the other end thereof, said bolt being adapted to be passed through said slot in said blade holder and held in place therein so as to retain said blade strip in position.

2. In a skate, the subcombination of a blade holder having a central longitudinal groove in the under side thereof; a blade strip for said holder extending only along the underside thereof; a central upstanding tongue on said blade strip engageable in and corresponding in width to said groove, and said tongue being of less height than the depth of the groove for the purpose specified.

3. In a skate, the subcombination of: a blade holder having an upwardly extending slot therein at the rear end thereof; a blade strip associated with said holder, said strip extending only along the under side of said holder and said strip having a hooked portion at the front end thereof for engagement with a slot formed adjacent the forward end of said underside of said holder; a screw device mounted at the rear end of said blade strip, said screw being adapted to be passed through said slot in said holder and be retained in position therein so as to hold said blade in position; and a cap on said blade holder adapted to cover said hooked portion of said blade strip.

4. In a skate, the subcombination of a blade holder; a blade strip associated with said holder, said strip extending only along the under side of said blade holder; means for releasably connecting said blade strip at the front and rear ends thereof to the front and rear ends respectively of said holder; and a cap on said blade holder for covering said front end connecting means.

5. In a skate, the subcombination of a blade holder having a slot adjacent one end, said slot extending from the bottom to the top thereof; a blade strip associated with said holder, said strip extending only along the under side of said holder; means for connecting said blade strip to said holder at the front end thereof; a covering cap for said connecting means; a bolt pivoted to said blade strip adjacent the rear end thereof, said bolt being insertible in said slot in said blade holder so as to protrude therethrough; and a nut screwable on the upper protruding end of said bolt for retaining said rear end of said blade strip in position on said blade holder.

6. In a skate, the subcombination of: a blade holder; a blade strip associated with said holder, said strip extending only along the under side of said holder; means for connecting said blade strip to said holder under side at the rear end thereof; means for connecting said blade strip to said holder under side at the forward end thereof; a cap-piece carried by said blade holder and covering said forward connecting means and said cap-piece being formed with teeth at the base thereof.

'7. In a skate, the subcombination of a blade holder; a blade strip associated with said holder; means located at the front and rear of said strip for connecting said strip to the under side of said holder; a cap-piece pivoted to said blade holder adjacent the forward end thereof and adapted to cover said front connecting means; means for locking said cover piece in any pivotally adjusted position and for displacing said cover piece bodily on said blade holder.

8. In a skate, the subcombination of a blade holder having an elongated slot therein adjacent the forward end thereof; a blade strip for said holder, said strip extending only along the under side of said holder; means for retaining said blade strip in position on said holder; a U-shaped cover-piece on said holder adapted to cover the front end of said blade-strip, a hollow screw engaging said slot in said blade holder and passing through holes in said cover-piece so as pivotally to retain said cover on said holder; and a second screw insertable into said hollow screw to lock said hollow screw against rotation; and means for preventing relative rotation of said hollow screw and said cover-piece.

9. In a skate, the subcombination of a blade holder having a tooth projectin from the front end thereof and an elongated slot adjacent said tooth; a blade strip on said holder, said strip extending only along the under side of said holder; means for engaging the front end of said strip with said blade holder adjacent the forward end of the under side thereof; means carried by said strip adjacent the rear end thereof for releasably connecting said strip to the rear end of said holder; a substantially U-shaped cap-piece associated with said blade holder; said cap-piece having holes therein; a hollow bolt passing through said holes in said cappiece and said slot in said blade holder so as to retain said cap on said holder and said bolt having a projection thereon engageable with a recess formed in said cap-piece to prevent relative rotation of said bolt and cappiece; a second bolt insertable into said hollow bolt to fix said hollow bolt on said cap in any desired adjusted position and said cap-piece having external teeth on the base thereof; and corresponding internal recesses co-operable with said tooth on said blade holder to assist in preventing displacement of said cap-piece when said skate is in use.

10. In a skate, the subcombination of: a blade holder; said holder having a curved upstanding portion at the front end thereof and a pair of upstanding portions located adjacent the middle and the rear thereof; a sole plate mounted on said front and intermediate portions; a heel plate mounted on said rear portion; a detachable blade strip carried by said blade holder, said strip extending only along the under side thereof and said strip being connected to said under side adjacent the front and rear ends thereof; an externally toothed cap pivoted to said holder adjacent the front end thereof so as to cover the front of said blade strip and said cap conforming holder; a blade strip associated with said holder, 5

said blade strip having a Wedge-shaped running surface and said strip extending along only the under side of said blade holder.

12. In a skate, the subcombination of a blade holder having a groove along the under side 10 thereof; a blade strip associated With said holder, said strip extending only along the under side of said holder and having an upstanding tongue thereon engageable in said groove on said holder; means for detachably connecting said blade strip 1 to said blade holder; a cap-piece pivotally connected to said blade holder adapted to cover the front end of said blade strip; and means for looking said cap against movement on said blade holder.

HUGO DORNSEIF. 

